


In Any Universe

by elphabaoftheopera



Category: The Wicked Years Series - Gregory Maguire, Wicked - All Media Types, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crossover, Dark Magic, Enemies to Lovers, Extramarital Affairs, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Fluff, Just Sex, Magic, Multiple Universes Colliding, Multiple stories in one, POV Fiyero, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Romance, Romantic Angst, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Sharing a Bed, Temporary Character Death, Tragedy/Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-25
Updated: 2021-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-28 11:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30139017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elphabaoftheopera/pseuds/elphabaoftheopera
Summary: During his and Elphaba’s treacherous journey out of Oz, a frustrated Fiyero begins to wonder what life would be like if things had gone differently for them. Then, after a run in with some mysterious magic, Fiyero gets his questions answered and more as he finds out firsthand whether the grass really greener in the alternate universe. Fiyeraba. One-shot. Post-Musical…and AU.
Relationships: Elphaba Thropp & Fiyero Tigelaar, Elphaba Thropp/Fiyero Tigelaar
Kudos: 2





	In Any Universe

**Author's Note:**

> ✧Disclaimer: This story uses some direct quotes and lyrics from both the Gregory Maguire book and the Schwartz/Holzman musical. I did not write and do not own these specific quotes and lyrics.
> 
> ✧Content Advisory: This story is composed of many stories in one and contains a variety of different tones from comedy to fluff to angst. It is rated T for some sexual content, peril, violence, weapon use, and temporary character death. Do not hesitate to PM me with questions or for more specifics regarding content.

**✧✴ ✶✧✶✴ ✧ In Any Universe ✧✴ ✶✧✶✴ ✧ **

_a Fiyeraba short story_

__

**✧✴ ✶✧✶✴ ✧**

> **_“And I’d choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I’d find you and I’d choose you.”_ **
> 
> **― Kiersten White, The Chaos of Stars**

**✧✴ ✶✧✶✴ ✧**

Somewhere between Oz and— _not_ Oz, Elphaba and Fiyero had at last made it past the desert and found themselves in the midst of a sparse forest.

The adrenaline of faking their deaths and escaping Oz had made their adventure exciting at first, but after ages of travel by foot, that exhilaration had faded. Days were long, terrain was harsh, and tensions between the pair were mounting. After a particularly taxing day, things came to a boiling point when Fiyero got snagged on a twisted limb of a tree which, as he tried to free himself, tore a long gash into the fabric of his sleeve.

“Perfect!” he griped, clamping a flimsy hand over the opening as straw began spilling out of the tear.

“I can mend it later,” Elphaba sighed exasperatedly as she dug through her bag. She procured a safety pin and deftly pinned his sleeve closed. “This will have to do for now. Let’s keep going.”

“Keep going?!” Fiyero groaned agitatedly. “We’ve been walking all day, can’t we stop?!”

“It’s barely sunset, Fiyero. We need to make as much progress as we can!”

“Are we ever going to be through running, Elphaba?!” Fiyero blurted out. Elphaba gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and took a long, deep breath.

“Fine. You want to stop for the night? We’ll stop for the night,” she conceded bitterly as she dropped her bag to the ground. “I’ll start a fire.”

“Don’t mind if I stay far away from you while you do,” Fiyero grumbled.

“You set your boyfriend’s arm on fire _one time_ …” Elphaba muttered to herself before regarding Fiyero with an analyzing look. “Everything okay?”

“You know me, I’m always happy,” Fiyero said unhappily.

“Okay, something’s up. What’s on your mind?” Elphaba prodded impatiently.

“Nothing’s ever on my mind. Remember?” Fiyero said, knocking a gloved hand against his straw filled head.

“ _Fiyero_.”

“It’s just…” he made an aggravated sound and gestured vaguely to their surroundings. “Elphaba, how did we end up here?”

“We crossed the desert and now we’re not far out of—”

“No, I mean, after everything we’ve been through, how did we end up… _here_? Forgive me if I say that these circumstances are less than ideal!”

“It could always be worse.”

“Hard to see how!” Fiyero retorted sharply.

Elphaba’s face fell. “What’s gotten into you?”

“It’s all just so random, isn’t it?” Fiyero brooded.

“What’s random?”

“I don’t know—everything! Life, circumstances—you and I! I mean, let’s face it, we’re not the likeliest pair!” he exclaimed. “If I hadn’t come to Shiz, if we hadn’t saved the Cub, if you hadn’t been at the Wizard’s palace that night…Oz—I just can’t stop thinking about it. If things had been even a _little_ different, who knows where we’d be? Would we be on the run, would I be a scarecrow, would we even—"

“Be together?” Elphaba filled quietly. “Would we even be together?”

“What? No, I—I mean…"

“No, Fiyero, I get it. You’re saying that if even one thing had gone differently for us then maybe we wouldn’t be together. Maybe you wouldn’t be _stuck_ here with me now,” Elphaba muttered before holding her hands up in surrender. “Well…maybe there’s a universe somewhere out there where that’s the case, but for now, seeing as this is the reality we’re _actually_ _living_ in, I’m going to go make a fire, rest my feet, and keep living it.”

She began to wander off and Fiyero groaned in frustration.

“That’s _not_ what I _meant_!” he called after her defensively.

But it was…wasn’t it? It wasn’t that he wasn’t grateful for Elphaba, it was just hard not to be curious what his life would be like if things had been…different.

Fiyero flopped over and stretched out on the ground. From a distance away, he could hear a fire start to crackle. Deciding to give Elphaba space, Fiyero closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply. While he wasn’t capable of falling asleep, per say, since his transformation he had gotten pretty good at entering a state of extreme relaxation that sometimes _felt_ like sleep. Some people might call it meditating, Fiyero just called it shutting his brain off.

For what it was worth, Fiyero had always been good at shutting his brain off. 

He tried this for a bit…but he was having trouble unwinding after his row with Elphaba. With a defeated groan, Fiyero clumsily got to his feet and began heading towards the glow of the campfire. Elphaba wasn’t there like he’d expected her to be, but that wasn’t altogether unusual. She probably just went off to find a source of water. Besides, she’d left her bag hanging from a knot on a tree so she couldn’t be gone for long—

Fiyero stopped short and did a double take as his eyes passed over her bag. He swore that he’d spotted the corner of a very large, very _familiar_ book sticking out the top of it. After glancing over his shoulder first to make sure Elphaba wasn’t about to sneak up on him, Fiyero cautiously moved forward and pulled the book out to investigate.

The Grimmerie.

How did she still have The Grimmerie? Hadn’t she left it with Glinda? Fiyero delicately set it to the ground and cracked it open to inspect the strange language within. As he flipped through the pages, he paused when he caught sight of a bizarre hieroglyph, a rune of sorts, that looked different from the other symbols in the book. It was a blast of confetti, at least, that’s what it looked like to Fiyero. Oddly intrigued, he placed his gloved hand over the page and ran his fingers over it.

The sensation began gradually, but it didn’t take long for Fiyero to realize that something strange was happening. He felt funny, as if he was being overtaken by an unseen, peculiar energy. Then, with a shudder of surprise, Fiyero realized that a magnetic-like force seemed to be emanating from the spell book. He resisted the pull at first as the magic compelled him forward, but Fiyero soon found himself being drawn towards the book, into the page…and right into a story.

A different story.

✧✴ ✶ 🎉 ✶✴ ✧

“Elphaba, I am so happy you were able to turn me human again!” Fiyero grinned, showing off his human hands. “I sure hated being a scarecrow.”

“It was so lucky that I just remembered the right spell to change you back!” Elphaba beamed before sighing sadly. “I just wish…”

“What is it?”

“I wish that Glinda knew that we were alive.”

Just then there was a knock on the door. Elphaba went to answer it and gasped. It was Glinda!

“Elphieee!” Glinda squealed, hugging her best friend tightly. “I found out that you were alive and came to find you!”

“How did you find out?” Elphaba asked.

“Somehow!” Glinda shrugged. “Nessa is alive too! Turns out she survived the house incident and she and Boq are back together. Also, I have no hard feelings about my best friend and ex-fiancé faking their death and leaving me behind!”

“Hooray!” the three of them rejoiced.

Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero returned to Oz and, thanks to Glinda telling their story, everyone realized that Elphaba was innocent and apologized for trying to kill her. A celebration throughout Oz was thrown the day they returned and the citizens unanimously agreed that the three of them should all rule Oz together. They were the best rulers that Oz ever had and they all lived happily ever after.

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero felt a whoosh as if a blast of wind had whisked him away from the scene and back into his own world. He was back at their campsite, kneeling over The Grimmerie once more. His hands immediately went to grip at his face and he was disappointed to find the usual burlap and straw. He was a scarecrow again. _What_ just happened?

It had all felt so real, as if he’d really been living it. As if, for a short time, that world had been his reality. Fiyero hadn’t remembered who he really was until he’d been ejected from the book.

Though everything he’d just seen all seemed a bit _convenient_ …it was nice. It was nice to think that there was a world somewhere in which all of he and Elphaba’s problems were magically fixed.

Fiyero felt jostled by this magic…but fascinated. He turned the page and found another rune that resembled, if he squinted, a cottage. He curiously placed his burlap glove over the page and felt the same magnetic sensation from before beginning to pull him into a new world.

✧✴ ✶ 🏠 ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero awoke to the sensation of something forcefully plopping down on his stomach. He groggily opened his eyes to see a two-year-old boy with black hair giggling down at him mischievously.

“Morning,” an amused voice called. Fiyero looked over to see Elphaba, sporting an untidy bun, smirking down at him as she smoothed her hands over a well-defined baby bump.

“Morning,” Fiyero wheezed.

“Did you wake Daddy?” Elphaba asked the boy kneeling on Fiyero’s abdomen as she reached over to hoist him to her hip.

“He certainly did,” Fiyero grunted, sitting up in bed to observe his pregnant wife and son with a sleepy smile. “Little guy knocked the wind out of me.”

“Well maybe if Daddy didn’t sleep in until _noon_ , we wouldn’t have to use the Liir alarm,” she grinned before blowing a raspberry to Liir’s cheek. “Now _would_ we?”

Fiyero stood out of bed and kissed the top of Liir’s head before offering Elphaba her own good morning kiss.

“Hmm…” Fiyero frowned. “I think I’m forgetting about someone…ah, yes!”

He leaned down and planted an obnoxious kiss to Elphaba’s belly. “And good morning to you, little one.” He considered Liir. “ _Littler_ one.”

Though his late start to their lazy Sunday meant that he missed breakfast, Fiyero was content to stand beside Elphaba at their kitchen counter as they watched Liir play in the adjoining living room.

“Kid has his mother’s brains,” Fiyero commented, listening to Liir read the words on his blocks out loud as he stacked them. “He already knows more words than me!”

“Well, I have a feeling our next one is going to be like _you_ ,” Elphaba smiled dryly as she sliced vegetables to put into their soup for dinner. “The way this baby kicks, I’d wager we have a dancer on our hands.”

Fiyero lightheartedly bumped his hip into hers. “Well, you never know until we meet them. Maybe our baby will look just like their mother—”

“Don’t say that,” Elphaba tensed, pausing her actions for a clock-tick. “You…know I don’t like thinking about that.”

As the afternoon wore on, so did Elphaba. Though she seemed to genuinely enjoy herself as they played with Liir, she looked tired. There were dark circles under her eyes, wisps of stringy hair in her face, and the smile that she was keeping up for their kid would occasionally waver wearily. Fortunately, Liir was tuckered out by his naptime and he fell asleep with little fuss. Elphaba sighed lethargically and let her shoulders slacken as she watched their son doze in his crib.

Fiyero stood behind her, gingerly wound his arms around her rounded belly, and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Fae, darling?” he murmured.

“Yero?” she responded quietly.

“You know that if our baby is green, I’m still going to adore them just as much as I adore Liir, just as much as I adore _you_ …don’t you?”

Elphaba closed her eyes and sighed. “We just got so lucky with Liir.”

“And we’re lucky to have this baby no matter how they’re born,” he reminded her, rubbing soothing circles over her stomach as their unborn child kicked lightly against his hand.

“I know. Of course, I know that. It’s just…” she trailed off. “I don’t want the baby to have to go through what I went through.”

“Hey…” Fiyero said softly. He turned her around to face him and brushed the strands of loose hair out of her face. “It won’t be like that. I’m not saying that we’d be able to protect them from everything, but I _do_ know that there are already so many people that will have this kid’s back no matter what. Their big brother for one…and of course their Mama and Daddy.”

Elphaba looked down and rested her hands over her bump as she discreetly swallowed a lump in her throat.

“You’re right,” she whispered, embarrassedly blinking back tears. “Oz, I’m sorry—it’s these hormones and…and I’m just so tired. The baby kept me up all night with its… _dancing_.”

Fiyero pressed a doting kiss to her forehead and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Let’s get you to bed for your own nap, hm? I may even rub your feet if you ask _really_ nicely.”

He wrapped an arm around his wife’s waist and led her out of the nursery towards their bedroom. He spared a glance towards their wedding photo on the wall as they passed by it and privately marveled at how fortunate they really were.

It was little home, a little life, and yet it held so much.

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero had a warm and fuzzy feeling when he was ejected from The Grimmerie this time around. Oz…how pleasant that would be! A quiet life with Elphaba, a cottage, some kids. Even though they weren’t in Oz, they were happy. He was _human_. It was almost painful to see a world that was so much more comfortable than the one he was living in, but his interest to see what else the book could show him was too great to stop now.

Fiyero turned the page to find what he made out to be a raincloud and eagerly placed his hand over it to see what this world had in store.

✧✴ ✶ 🌧️ ✶✴ ✧

“Come on, Galinda, we’re perfect together. Why won’t you go out with me?” Fiyero complained. 

“Pfannee was despondiary when you dumped her. The girls started talking and, well, they think you’re kind of…shallow.”

“Thank you,” Fiyero grinned.

“It’s not good, Fiyero,” Galinda warned. “There’s a pact. All of the girls agreed to stop dating you until you can prove you can really commit! I…hope you understand. Now, I’ve gotta go—if I’m seen with you, I’ll be ostracized!”

Fiyero’s jaw dropped as Galinda darted away. How was he supposed to prove himself if no one would date him!?

Then, like a terrible green blizzard, Fiyero looked up just in time to see Shiz’s most unpopular student steadfastly charging down the parted hallway amidst a cacophony of hisses and jeers from her peers.

Elphaba Thropp.

A lightbulb flashed over Fiyero’s head and he followed Elphaba out into the courtyard, speeding up so he could get in front of her.

“Proposition,” he posed, walking backwards so he could talk to her as she continued forward.

“Denied.”

“You’ll wanna hear it.”

“Don’t need to,” she said, pushing past him.

“You wanna get everyone off your back?!” Fiyero called after her. She paused and turned, suspicious but curious.

“Go on.”

He stepped closer and lowered his voice so nobody could hear.

“Girls think I’m shallow—”

“Shocker.”

“—and they won’t go out with me until they see that I can commit to someone.”

“Tragic,” she deadpanned. “How does this involve me?”

“Well…what’s less shallow than being with the green girl?”

Elphaba stared in horror as it all sunk in. “Are you…asking me out?”

“Oz, no! But I’m saying we could… _pretend_ to date.”

“No.”

“Just long enough for people to see that I can commit!”

“No! Besides, what’s in it for me?” Elphaba bargained.

“Nobody likes you—” Fiyero began.

“ _Great_ start.”

“—but they like _me_. People aren’t going to torment someone that I’m associated with. Besides, this could make you more desirable for other men—”

“I don’t want to be desirable for other men.”

“Or people will at least leave you alone so you can do your weird loner stuff in peace!”

Elphaba narrowed her eyes at him as she mulled it over.

“Rules. Dates can’t interfere with my studies. Don’t tell anyone about this arrangement, don’t call me beautiful, and _don’t_ make a fool out of me,” Elphaba listed.

Fiyero offered his hand to shake on it. “Fake dating?”

“Fake dating.”

As Fiyero optimistically sauntered off, Elphaba called after him.

“Fiyero? No kissing either.”

“ _Not_ a problem.”

The population of Shiz University lost their collective mind when word got out that Fiyero Tiggular and Elphaba Thropp were dating. Their secret arrangement was _not_ easy at first. Fiyero constantly reminded Elphaba to ‘loosen up’ and ‘pretend that she liked him’, and Elphaba constantly reminded Fiyero that she’d hex him off the face of Oz if he kept saying that. However, their bickering soon turned to banter, and their charade began to feel more natural. Even…fun. They would hold hands everywhere, study together, eat together, sit together, smile, laugh.

They would laugh a _lot_.

“There’s a party at the Ozdust tonight,” Fiyero informed Elphaba, his arm draped lazily over her shoulders as she read at a table in the library.

“Have fun.”

“You’re my fake girlfriend!”

“Then I’ll fake come.”

“Elphaba, people are really paying attention to us. Galinda especially. We may be able to end this arrangement sooner rather than later if we’re seen at the Ozdust.”

“Right…” Elphaba trailed off, closing her book before turning to look at him. “I hate parties, you know.”

“Shocker,” Fiyero quipped, earning a smirk from Elphaba. “So, I’ll be picking you up around eight?”

That night when he swung by her dorm, Fiyero’s eyes widened when Elphaba opened the door. She was wearing a simple frock, but her hair was down and she wasn’t wearing her glasses.

“Wow, you look…”

“You don’t have to lie to me, no one is around,” she pointed out.

“Oh…right…”

Clouds were gathering in the sky by the time they reached the Ozdust and Fiyero didn’t hesitate to lead Elphaba towards the center of the dance floor where everyone could see them.

“I can’t dance,” Elphaba whispered nervously.

“Slow dances are simple,” Fiyero assured her as he tenderly took her waist. “Just follow my lead. I don’t want to brag but—”

“Yes, you do—” Elphaba teased just before Fiyero smoothly lowered her into a dip that made the tips of her hair kiss the floor.

“I’m an excellent dancer.”

Their eyes met as he pulled her out of the dip and he slowly moved both of his hands to hold her waist. Hesitantly, Elphaba wrapped her arms around his neck and followed his lead as they swayed to the music. Nobody could say that they weren’t playing their parts well tonight. So well, in fact, that Fiyero hardly even realized that he was leaning in until—

“Rules—” Elphaba breathed hastily. “Rules.”

“Right!” Fiyero nodded dumbly.

“Uh…I’ll be back,” she promised, blushing deeply as she backed away towards the exit. “Just need some air.”

Fiyero’s heart pounded as he lightheadedly stared after Elphaba until a dainty tap on his shoulder broke his stupor.

“You’ve officially proven yourself!” Galinda reported ecstatically. “You may ask me out now. What’s better, after the experiment tonight, we’ll definitely have Greenie off your back for good.”

“Experiment?” Fiyero frowned, trying to keep up.

“People are saying that she bewitched you, so we’ve organized a rescue mission. People are saying that water will melt her, I mean—I don’t believe it, but I guess we’ll find out tonight!” Galinda giggled, pointing towards a large bucket attached to a rope hanging over the entrance to the Ozdust.

“No…”

“I just can’t believe that you put up with her so we can be together…” Galinda gushed, winding her arms around his neck. “ _So_ romantic.”

Fiyero stared in horror as it all sunk in and, as Elphaba stepped back inside the Ozdust, he knew that it was too late to stop it. It all happened so fast. Elphaba smiled his way, her face fell when she saw him with Galinda, and then in a great _splash_ she was doused with water from the bucket overhead.

Shrill laughter and moans of disappointment for the lack of melting echoed through the Ozdust as Elphaba stood alone, shivering and soaked to the bone. She looked to Fiyero with a crushed expression before turning on her heel to escape. Without thinking, Fiyero shrugged away from Galinda and set off after her. It was pouring down rain when he stepped outside and he saw Elphaba ahead, trudging through the downpour.

“Elphaba—wait!” Fiyero called. She turned and he ran out into the storm to catch up with her.

“See? Now we’re both wet—” he attempted. 

“You’re released from the deal!” Elphaba yelled over the rain. “You got what you wanted.”

“I had nothing to do with what happened in there—”

“I hope you’re happy, Fiyero. I’m _humiliated_. Not just because of that stunt but because for a clock-tick I thought—I _actually_ thought—”

“Thought what?”

“Oz, I’m so stupid,” Elphaba whispered to herself. “I’m a fool.”

She shook her head and turned to leave but Fiyero caught her hand. She looked down at it and then slowly back at him.

“Elphaba…you look beautiful,” Fiyero imparted softly, staring into her eyes as rain dripped down both of their faces.

“You…broke a rule,” Elphaba mumbled.

“That was only when this was fake.”

“Isn’t it?”

“It started out that way but then…then…” Fiyero released her hand and thunder rumbled as he took the soaking wet sides of her face in his hands. “Elphaba, I want to break another rule…can I?”

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero took a moment to reorient to reality. He and Elphaba dating, or rather _pretending_ to, in college? What a novel thought. Could that have been them if she hadn’t left for The Emerald City? An unlikely but happy couple about campus, studying together, dancing at the Ozdust, having romantic moments in the rain? He felt a pang of regret that he had never gotten to be with Elphaba during those easier, more innocent days. They could have been happy…if only things hadn’t gone so wrong.

The next page had a symbol resembling a crown, and Fiyero didn’t hesitate to investigate.

✧✴ ✶ ♛ ✶✴ ✧

Hosting guests at Kiamo Ko was always a bore, but it was made all the worse by the fact that Fiyero and his family were hosting none other than the Governor of Munchkinland and his two daughters. Fiyero had heard of their strict devotion to Unionism…but that wasn’t all he’d heard. In fact, one of the only reasons that he’d left his pretty bed companions to come greet the Munchkins alongside his parents was to see for himself if the rumors about the Governor’s eldest daughter were true. When the castle doors opened and admitted their guests, Fiyero saw it for himself. Her skin really was… _green_.

“My daughter, Elphaba Thropp,” Frexspar presented.

“Our son, Prince Fiyero Tigelaar,” Fiyero’s father presented.

Fiyero offered his hand for Elphaba to shake, opting out of kissing her hand as he typically did when greeting a woman. She stiffly shook it back.

“Wonderful, now you two have met. Marriage negotiations will begin this afternoon,” Fiyero’s father said curtly.

“WHAT?!” Fiyero and Elphaba blurted out, immediately releasing each other’s hand.

“Fiyero, you are to marry Miss Thropp to solidify a Vinkun-Munchkin alliance,” Fiyero’s mother explained.

Elphaba’s horrorstruck look suggested that she was feeling just as blindsided as Fiyero.

“But—but _look_ at her! You couldn’t have picked anyone else?! She’s…she’s…” Fiyero spluttered.

“Green?” Elphaba filled in coldly. “ _Acutely_ spotted.”

“Elphaba, enough!” Frexspar asserted. “You will marry and that’s the end of it.”

“Now I suggest that you get to know each other. Who knows? You may even grow to like each other,” Fiyero’s mother suggested.

“Not likely,” Fiyero and Elphaba muttered simultaneously.

As their parents negotiated in the coming days, Fiyero did all he could to avoid his wife to be. He could typically be found sulking on a chaise and cursing his fate. 

“You _do_ realize that my father has only arranged this ridiculous match to get me out of his life, right?”

Fiyero sat up to see Elphaba emerge from the shadows of the drawing room with a bitter look.

“It’s for the Vinkun-Munchkin alliance—” Fiyero began before he was cut off by Elphaba’s jarring cackle.

“You think my father cares for any alliance with The Vinkus? If he did, he would have offered Nessarose! Think about it. He gets to ship his unwanted daughter across Oz _and_ sic her on a group of people he views as savages! Win-win.”

“Savages?! You Unionists are all the same—”

“Unionist?” Elphaba snorted. “I am _not_ a Unionist. It’s hard to follow a religion that claims you’re a punishment from its deity.”

Fiyero was admittedly surprised. “…Oh?”

“And for the record, _I_ don’t think Vinkuns are savages…in fact I’m quite fascinated by the culture,” Elphaba offered before tacking on, “Although their princes do leave something to be desired.”

They were married in a quick private ceremony at the castle with no attendees besides their families to witness the union. Directly after, Fiyero watched as Elphaba’s belongings were tossed into the foyer as the Governor prepared to leave.

“Elphaba,” Frexspar nodded. “Try not to talk so much.”

With that, he and Nessarose left Elphaba behind with a new husband in a strange new place. Fiyero felt a twinge of pity for her as he watched her stand alone in the foyer. However, when she scowled his way upon noticing him, he felt pity only for himself.

Adjacent but separate living quarters were prepared for them and, needless to say, their marriage was not consummated. Elphaba spent her nights alone, and Fiyero spent his nights with Maylea or Fern…or both.

Elphaba was far from a shrinking violet and, apparently rejecting her father’s last advice, always spoke her mind. Because of this, she admittedly showed great potential as the future queen. While Fiyero held little affection for her as a spouse, it was hard not to respect her as his political equal.

Where Elphaba spent her spare time was a mystery to Fiyero until one day when he unexpectedly discovered her sitting in a large windowsill of a high tower. Her ever-present tension was missing as she stared out upon the scenery with an unguarded yet melancholy expression. She looked…lonely.

Maybe Fiyero was lonely too.

Unable to get the image out of his mind, Fiyero occasionally returned to observe her. Sometimes she would read, or stare, or nod off. However, on one occasion, he found her gently weeping. Startled by the sight, he leaned forward only to accidentally knock over a nearby broom. The crash revealed his presence and Elphaba shot up to her feet.

“What!?”

“I’m sorry—I was just wondering if everything was…okay?” Fiyero asked lamely.

“Like you care. Go back to your little girlfriends.”

“You think your husband doesn’t care? Here I was thinking we had a perfect marriage…” Fiyero offered a sarcastic smile.

Amazingly, Elphaba smiled back. A bit. “The stuff of fairytales.”

She went quiet for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t miss Munchkinland. I don’t. I never belonged there. But maybe I don’t belong here either. If I didn’t belong _there_ and I don’t belong _here_ …then…”

Before he could think better of it, Fiyero pulled her into a hug. Besides their first handshake, it was their first ever physical contact. He soon realized that he wanted more. When they pulled out of the hug, Fiyero’s eyes curiously drifted to Elphaba’s lips. Their shallow breath mingled and their noses gently brushed against one another until the loud caw of a crow startled them out of their embrace. They didn’t speak for the rest of the day.

That night in bed with Fern and Maylea, Fiyero imagined that it was Elphaba he was kissing, touching. He pictured his hands on her smooth green skin, her lips on his tattoos, her voice calling his name.

“What’s wrong?” Maylea asked as the three of them lay together.

“I think I actually have feelings for someone,” Fiyero mumbled dazedly.

“For who?!” Fern asked eagerly.

“My…wife.”

The girls expressed their confusion and dismay as Fiyero got up and got dressed.

“This is over,” Fiyero decided as he buttoned half of his shirt. “Stay here tonight if you want…hopefully I won’t be back.”

He swiftly left his own quarters and knocked on Elphaba’s door. When she answered, she said nothing, but merely looked up at her husband with silent, expectant longing. Obliging her nonverbal request, Fiyero slowly leaned in to share a stirring first kiss with his wife. As they kissed, he tenderly picked her up bridal style and carried her back into her quarters— _their_ quarters—and she closed the door behind them with her foot.

They never slept separately again.

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero couldn’t imagine an odder way to meet Elphaba. Arranged marriages weren’t unheard of where he was from, but he would have thought that being matched with Elphaba would have lessened their chances of actually falling for each other. However, though they’d had a bumpy start, their future in that world seemed promising. Married couple, castle living, kicking ass as king and queen of The Vinkus? Sounded pretty good to him. Besides, those tattoos suited him.

Fiyero wasn’t sure what to make of the next rune. His best guess was that it resembled a ceramic mug of all things. Only one way to find out.

✧✴ ✶ ☕️ ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero stood in line at a new coffee shop and swiped through his phone lazily, desperate for a perk. The shop wasn’t very crowded but the line was moving slowly. He didn’t mind much, though. It wasn’t like he had anywhere else to be.

“Order? ...Hello? Hey, your highness, are you going to order something or not?” the barista attempted to get his attention.

“Latte, extra foam,” Fiyero muttered, still swiping through his phone. 

“Of course, because no one just wants a plain black coffee anymore,” the barista scoffed.

A little offended, Fiyero finally looked up and his eyes widened. His barista had long black hair pulled into a loose ponytail and the nametag attached to her navy apron read ‘ _Fae’_ in nice handwriting. However, none of those details were what had Fiyero staring.

“It’s from the matcha,” Fae informed him seriously, gesturing to her green skin. “Too much matcha. They don’t warn you about the side effects.”

“Wha—really?!” Fiyero asked in a bewildered tone before he noticed her evil smirk.

“No, but I hate matcha so anything I can do to steer people clear of it I see as a public good,” she shrugged. “Name?”

“My name?”

“For your cup, genius,” Fae said in a smart tone. “Unless you want a mug. As nauseating as I find them, I am pretty good with latte art. That is—if you’re staying.”

“Yeah…I’ll stay,” Fiyero decided. “And, uh—Fiyero. My name. Fiyero.”

“Coming right up, _Fiyero_.”

Fae had not been wrong; her latte art was magic. It was in the shape of a flower so elaborate that Fiyero almost felt bad to drink it. As he whiled away the hours of the afternoon, he couldn’t help but steal glances towards Fae from time to time. During lulls in the line, he noticed her scribbling away in a notebook that she kept in her apron pocket.

Fiyero came back the next day and was relieved and excited to see Fae working again.

“My latte art is that good, huh?” she teased upon seeing him.

“Oh definitely,” he laughed. “That’s the only reason I came back.”

“Well, I’m still practicing. Most people think it’s a daisy but what I’m actually going for is—”

“A poppy?” Fiyero filled in. Her eyes widened and a surprised smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“Yeah…a poppy,” they stared at each other for a second before she cleared her throat. “Latte? Or do you have enough courage to try a _real_ cup of coffee?”

“Do _I_ have enough courage?” Fiyero scoffed. “One cup of your darkest, bitterest, most disgusting coffee then.”

She poured him a fresh cup and watched with a wicked smirk as he took a long sip. He could only keep his poker face up for a second.

“Yeah, that’s terrible,” he grimaced, slowly sliding it back her way. Then, Fae laughed. It was a brash sound, almost a cackle, but it was genuine and Fiyero was smitten by it.

“What can I say, I like my coffee like my soul. Dark and bitter,” she explained wryly.

Over the next few weeks, Fiyero came in nearly every day. He learned that Fae was working full time to save up enough money for college. It made him feel a bit guilty that she had to work so hard to earn her way when he himself had been kicked out of college after college without ever paying so much as a dime of his own money. He decided not to tell her about any of that.

“Can I ask you something?” he requested one day as he twirled a straw between his fingers. “What are you always scribbling in that little notebook?”

“You noticed that, huh? Well, I’m…writing something. A book, I hope. But it isn’t finished—not even _close_ to finished,” she dismissed humbly. Fiyero noticed a faint blush spread across her cheeks. “I’ve never told that to anyone before.”

“Well, I can’t wait to read it someday,” Fiyero murmured genuinely. Fae fought a smile and met Fiyero’s eyes in a shy yet determined gaze.

“Hey, Fiyero?”

The tone of her voice was so sincere, so intimate, that for a moment it felt like they were the only two people in the quiet coffee shop.

“Yes, Fae?”

“My name isn’t actually Fae. I just use it at work because it’s easier for people to say. My real name is…Elphaba.”

“Elphaba…” Fiyero murmured, trying the beautiful name out on his lips. Elphaba had been wrong. She wasn’t dark or bitter like she once had claimed. She was warm and sweet and complex…just like her lattes.

“Well, if you go by a nickname at work, maybe I should have one too,” Fiyero decided.

Elphaba smiled and grabbed a paper cup and sharpie, scribbling something on it quickly before handing it back to him. Fiyero’s heart melted to see the name ‘ _Yero’_ written upon it in her lovely penmanship.

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

Thus far, that world had seemed the most foreign, the most…un-Ozian. But it was cozy, so _cozy_! More than that, Fiyero found himself missing all of those mundane, simple joys of human life that he’d taken for granted before. In that world, he got to drink coffee all while slowly romancing Elphaba. What could be better than that?

The next rune depicted an open flame which made Fiyero a little wary. However, things had been going so well that he was willing to take the chance.

✧✴ ✶ 🔥 ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero spotted a paperback novel resting on a bed and, figuring Elphaba must have left there, absentmindedly picked it up. He began flipping through the pages and his eyebrows shot up as he caught bits and pieces of steamy scene after steamy scene. Did Elphaba really read these kinds of novels?

“So—uh…what’s the plot in this one?” he called to her, trying to hide the amusement in his voice.

“There is no plot,” a sultry voice answered.

Fiyero’s jaw dropped as he turned to find Elphaba standing before him clad only in black lingerie. He dropped the paperback as she enticingly strolled towards him all while coquettishly twisting a lock of perfect ebony hair around her finger. She placed a hand on his shoulder and slowly leaned in to whisper alluringly in his ear…

“Take off your clothes.”

Seduced beyond reason, Fiyero only had time to throw the suspenders off of his shoulders before Elphaba pounced. She pulled his lips to hers in an aggressive kiss and they both rushed to get undressed. As they fell to the bed, Fiyero pressed steamy kisses to any stretch of emerald skin he could find. His hands hungrily roamed Elphaba’s body, trying to memorize the feel of it.

“I feel wicked,” Elphaba whispered hotly, roughly tangling her fingers in Fiyero’s hair as they ravaged each other. “And you know what they say…”

Fiyero lifted his head to meet her lustful gaze and watched as her flawless lips curled into a lascivious smile.

“Wickedness must be punished.”

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

“Let me go back! Please!” Fiyero begged as he _whooshed_ back into his own world. He repeatedly slammed his hand onto the page with the flame but it wouldn’t take him back. Apparently, he could only view the other worlds once.

Forget coffee, The Grimmerie had just shown him _exactly_ what he was missing most about being human. He longed to feel Elphaba again. He wanted to kiss her again, touch her again, sleep with her again. Being with a woman like Elphaba and not being able to _feel_ her was…agony.

Fiyero sighed sharply and decided that since he couldn’t go back, he might as well go forward. He forcefully flipped to the next page and set his hand down upon a rune depicting two intersecting arrows.

✧✴ ✶ 🔀 ✶✴ ✧

“You wouldn’t be doing so poorly in Charms class if you actually _studied_ , Ron.”

“Hermione, why are you always getting onto me and not Mister Dancing-Through-Life here? Back me up here, Harry,” Ron complained.

“To be fair, Fiyero did _just_ get to Hogwarts and you’ve been here for six years, mate,” Harry shrugged.

“Precisely…though I _do_ find it troubling that you’ve only just gotten here and you’ve already organized a party _against_ school rules…” Hermione muttered towards Fiyero.

“Don’t worry, Hermione. I’m sure I won’t last longer at this wizarding school than at any of the others,” Fiyero laughed easily.

He’d gotten almost all of his fellow Gryffindors to agree to come to his afterhours shindig in the dungeons, a pretty Slytherin named Galinda said she’d bring her friends, and a rather eager Hufflepuff named Boq who’d been breathing down Galinda’s neck invited himself along too. Suddenly, the doors to the Great Hall burst open and a mocking voice echoed through the hall.

“Hey Miss Acid Pop!” Draco Malfoy and his two cronies antagonized a girl charging straight towards Ravenclaw table. She was carrying a large stack of books and her long hair concealed her face. “Tell me, would someone burn a hole in their tongue if they licked y—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the girl dropped her books, grabbed her wand, and sent a sudden, expert hex his way. Malfoy cried out as large, green, pus-filled boils began sprouting across his face.

“What is it? Did you drink a bad potion!? Botch a recoloration spell? Transfigure yourself into a frog?” the girl yelled heatedly as if she’d had the insults locked and loaded.

She grabbed her things and charged towards her table in a huff and Fiyero gasped when he finally caught a good look at her. Her skin was as green as the emeralds in the Slytherin hourglass.

“Who’s _that_?” Fiyero asked.

“You haven’t met Elphaba yet?” Harry raised his eyebrows.

“She’s freaky…” Ron shook his head. “ _Wicked_ smart, though.”

“The Sorting Hat couldn’t decide where to put her,” Hermione explained. “Apparently it was stuck between Ravenclaw for her obvious intelligence, Gryffindor for her boldness, and Slytherin for—”

“The green?” Ron snorted and Hermione whacked him on the shoulder.

Fiyero couldn’t help but stare at the green girl studying alone at the Ravenclaw table. There was something about her, something enchanting, that made him wonder if he’d be staying at Hogwarts longer than originally planned.

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

That…was weird. Weirdest one yet. Elphaba was there, as well as Glinda and Boq, but everyone and everything else in that world was utterly unfamiliar. Fiyero didn’t understand it, he wasn’t sure he liked it, but he _was_ pleased to see that Elphaba continued to be a fierce opponent towards whoever dared to cross her no matter which school she was at.

Shaking off the weirdness of the previous world, Fiyero examined the next rune. It seemed to be a dagger, which made him both nervous and excited to see what this world was like.

✧✴ ✶ 🗡 ✶✴ ✧

A masquerade ball was in full swing at The Emerald Palace. Fiyero straightened his tuxedo as his gaze shifted about from partygoer to partygoer until his eyes landed on his arch nemesis standing across the way. This town was perhaps the only place someone like her could blend in, but Fiyero recognized her at once by the way his flesh began to crawl.

Elphaba wore a form fitting black dress with a long slit up the leg and a simple black mask which gave her the appearance of an elegant bandit. It took her a tick-tock to recognize Fiyero behind his blue diamond print mask but she scowled the moment it clicked.

“Care to dance?” Fiyero asked, knowing that the mere suggestion would piss her off.

“Not particularly,” she said through gritted teeth.

Regardless, Fiyero snatched her hand and led her to the ballroom floor as the orchestra sawed away.

“Who let you in here, anyway? Or did you use your camouflage?” Fiyero mocked as he began leading her in a strict waltz alongside the other revelers.

“The Magic Grand Vizier doesn’t need to use camouflage to secure an invite to The Wizard’s ball. She also doesn’t have to sleep with any event coordinators unlike _some_ people,” she responded coolly.

“Green with envy, are we?” Fiyero smirked.

“Hardly,” she grimaced. “Besides, you’re the Captain of the Guard. Shouldn’t you be on duty?”

“I can’t resist a good party,” Fiyero shrugged. “Besides, I’ve got other matters to attend to tonight.”

“Likewise, which is why this dance isn’t not only bothersome but also a supreme waste of my time.”

The waltz ended and Elphaba shrugged out of their position impatiently. Her eyes shifted around the room and took in some of the fur lined masks.

“Now if you’ll excuse me…these Animal masks are turning my stomach,” she mumbled. Her stilettos clacked on the marble floor as she strode away.

Fiyero didn’t have time to wonder where his rival was off to, he had an appointment to keep. He glanced at the clock, slipped out of the ballroom, and began heading towards his meetup point. When he covertly ducked into an out-of-bounds hallway, Fiyero was shocked to spot none other than his emerald enemy standing in front of the throne room door, pulling a tiny glass vial from between her breasts.

_What was she doing here?! She was going to blow everything_! Stunned and frustrated to find the last person he wanted to see in the last place that she should be, Fiyero snuck up on her and swiftly pinned her arm behind her back to restrain her. A small tinkling of shattering glass was heard and then, in a chaotic green blur, Fiyero suddenly found _himself_ firmly pinned against the wall with Elphaba’s hand around his throat in a firm warning grip.

“Fiyero!?” she whispered in shock before glancing down at the shattered remains of the vial. Her face twisted in fury. “That was essence of opium, you moron! The most powerful sleeping potion in Oz! Do you know how hard that was for me to get!? What are you _doing_ here!?”

“I’m supposed to meet somebody here!” Fiyero snapped.

“So am I! I’m meeting my mission partner tonight so we can—"

“Kill The Wizard,” they both whispered. They stared at each other blankly as the realization kicked in.

“ _You’re_ Crow?” she confirmed his code name with him.

“ _You’re_ Sage?!” he confirmed hers.

She removed her hand from his neck but her glare did not lessen. If looks could kill, their operation would be a roaring success.

“I cannot believe that the Resistance trusted _you_ to be my partner. You already blew it with that vial—”

“I’m not the one who dropped it, genius!”

They stopped quarrelling as they heard footsteps sound from down the hall. If they were caught down by the throne room, the whole mission could be compromised. Elphaba impulsively flung back the slit in her dress and reached for a dagger that was strapped to her upper thigh.

“Wait—” Fiyero whispered urgently, capturing her wrist before she could unsheathe it. “I have a better plan.”

Just as a Gale Forcer turned the corner, Fiyero pulled Elphaba into a fierce kiss. She stiffened at first but, surely understanding his motive after a moment, began to kiss him back. Fiyero pulled away for a clock-tick to sheepishly grin at the guard who had stumbled upon the apparent sweethearts.

“Sorry about that Ronan…just wanted a little privacy with the little lady. You understand,” he smiled charismatically.

Ronan nodded with an amused chuckle. “Understood, Captain! Understood.”

“Little lady?” Elphaba muttered heatedly.

“Shh…we have to sell it,” Fiyero whispered as Ronan began to amble away.

Fiyero captured Elphaba’s lips again with more ferocity than before and they mercilessly made out as the guard’s footsteps receded…but even after the coast was clear, neither of them pulled away. Fiyero stepped forward to press Elphaba against the wall and she paid him back in kind by biting hard on his lower lip.

“I loathe you,” Fiyero growled, unable to stop sucking on her exquisite emerald neck.

“I despise you,” Elphaba hissed, hooking her leg around his hip.

Fiyero’s hand drifted up Elphaba’s thigh until his fingers brushed the handle of her dagger, reminding him why they were there in the first place. He broke the kiss and they both panted heavily, staring at each other with a mixture of confusion and desire.

“The mission.”

“Yes…the mission.” 

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero had mixed feelings about what he’d just seen. The attraction he’d felt for Elphaba was real…but so was the contempt. Though he had poked fun at her upon first knowing her, Fiyero had never truly loathed Elphaba. He didn’t like knowing what loathing Elphaba felt like. However, if the sensual scene he’d just experienced proved anything, it was that there was a very fine line between hate and passion. That was something, right?

Fiyero tried not to get his hopes up too high for what was in store for him next, for the rune on the next page looked very much like a bed.

✧✴ ✶ 🛏️ ✶✴ ✧

Being project partners with an overachiever usually made things easier, but not when that project partner was Elphaba Thropp.

Being project partners with Elphaba meant that Fiyero had to give up his Saturday to leave campus, hop a day train, and help her interview an elderly Owl who lived in a nothing town between Shiz and The Pertha Hills. She insisted that the old broad would have a ‘really unique perspective’ on their topic.

However, while Elphaba had been meticulous with her notes, she had not kept a sharp eye on the clock. By the time they reached the town’s tiny train station again, dusk had fallen and the last train for the evening had just departed.

“What do you propose we do?” Fiyero asked Elphaba as they stared at the closed ticket window.

“How should I know?”

“Oz, can things get any worse?!” Fiyero complained dramatically.

“Wait—was that a drop?” Elphaba asked, squinting at the sky.

“Ha ha ha. Because whenever people say ‘can things get any worse’ it always starts to—”

“Fiyero? _We have to go_.”

Elphaba impulsively grabbed Fiyero’s hand and started yanking him along with her as she sprinted away from the roofless train platform and down the street of the small town. A befuddled Fiyero watched as she urgently jiggled shop door handles and banged on windows, trying in vain to find _anything_ that was still open. The light drizzle was beginning to pick up and Elphaba looked very close to panicking until Fiyero spotted a little rundown inn up ahead. They both made a mad dash for the entrance and bounded into the shabby lobby just as the rain really started to pour. Fiyero had never seen Elphaba so pale.

“Are you going to explain—"

“Not now,” Elphaba dismissed breathlessly before approaching the front desk. “We—uh, we need two rooms, please.”

“Sorry, ma’am. We only have one vacant room.”

Elphaba groaned in frustration, spared a glance to Fiyero, and then shot a desperate look towards the rain splattered windows. “Fine…we’ll take it.”

The cheap rented room they’d been assigned had peeling wallpaper, flickering lights, and… _one_ double bed. Elphaba and Fiyero stared at it for a long moment before shooting each other an awkward glance.

“It’s…all they had,” Elphaba explained uncomfortably.

“Right,” Fiyero cleared his throat. “I’ll uh—I’ll take the floor.”

“I’m the one who got us stranded here, I’ll take the floor,” Elphaba sighed.

“Yeah…but I called _dibs_ ,” Fiyero declared before making a show of stretching out on the floor with his hands behind his head. “See? Totally comfort—ah!”

“What is it!?”

“Dead mouse under the bed,” Fiyero reported as he scrambled to his feet.

Seeing as they hadn’t packed overnight bags, Fiyero later walked out of the bathroom in only his boxers and undershirt which made Elphaba cough and modestly avert her eyes. As she slid off her glasses and began undoing her braid, Fiyero, to his surprise, found himself admiring Elphaba’s hair as it unraveled into long, loose waves. He had never seen her like this.

“What are you looking at?” she asked suspiciously after catching his glance.

“Oh—your hair looks…nice,” Fiyero admitted, unusually flustered over having been caught staring.

“Oh…thanks,” Elphaba mumbled blushingly before a long, awkward silence stretched between them. “Well, uh…goodnight, Fiyero.”

“Yeah—goodnight, Elphaba.”

She hastily turned off the lamp and they both situated for sleep, Elphaba on the bed and Fiyero on the floor. Now that things were quieter, the sound of pelting rain and the occasional roll of thunder was very hard to ignore. However, despite the torrential downpour, Fiyero swore that he could hear what sounded like shallow breathing and occasional, soft whimpers from the bed above.

“Hey, Elphaba?” he called gently. “What…was that about today?”

She didn’t respond at first and Fiyero wondered if she’d fallen asleep, but after a few moments Elphaba quietly answered his question.

“I’m…allergic to water. It burns my skin.”

The strange revelation knocked the wind out of Fiyero. He recalled the terror on Elphaba’s face as it started to sprinkle, the _relief_ on it when they found shelter.

“So, if you had gotten caught in the rain today…” he trailed off, feeling a cold chill travel up his spine. 

“Yes,” she whispered.

A loud crash of thunder shook the flimsy walls of the inn and Fiyero heard Elphaba involuntarily gasp. He was used to seeing Elphaba causing commotions, raising hell, and making scenes. He was not used to seeing her like…this.

“Elphaba? Are you—”

“You know? Uh—there’s…there’s plenty of room up here,” Elphaba offered shakily. “If—if you don’t want to sleep by the mouse.”

She didn’t need to ask twice. Fiyero climbed onto the squeaky mattress and settled in under the sheets at a respectful distance away. Even from the opposite side of the bed…he could feel Elphaba’s body shaking with fear.

Fiyero reached over and tapped her on the wrist before wordlessly placing his hand palm side up in the center of the bed as an open offer. Elphaba didn’t move at first, but after the next crack of thunder, she slowly placed her trembling hand in his.

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero wanted to reflect on the clear romantic tension, he wanted to reflect on the intimacy of their sharing a bed, but he could only focus on one thing. The water. Elphaba had been allergic to _water_. In his world, the rumors—the melting—it had all been fake. But in the world that he’d just seen…it was real. What would have happened to Elphaba if she hadn’t escaped the rain?

Fiyero made a nervous sound and shook his head, quickly turning the page in The Grimmerie to distract himself from the thought. A rune of a music clef…that had to be a simple one.

✧✴ ✶ 🎼 ✶✴ ✧

Fiyero’s burlap gloves and ragged clothes itched his skin as he stumbled into the familiar scene. A black pointed hat was set upon a trapdoor ahead of him. He wobbled forward, pounded on it, and yelled, “It worked!”

Then, suddenly, out popped Elphaba from the trapdoor with a look of powerful relief on her face. Fiyero felt just as relieved to see her.

“Fiyero?” she breathed. “Oh Fiyero…I thought you’d never get here.”

He pulled her out from the trap door and her fingers hesitantly reached towards him.

“Go ahead—touch. I don’t mind,” he assured her. Her fingers brushed over his scarecrow face. “You did the best you could. You saved my life.”

“You’re still beautiful.”

“You don’t have to lie to me.”

“It’s not lying. It’s looking at things another way.”

They pulled each other into a tight hug and music swelled all around. People singing a mournful sounding song began surrounding them.

“ _No one mourns the wicked_

_Now at last she’s dead and gone_

_Now at last there’s joy throughout the land_ …”

Fiyero knew exactly what to say next, exactly where to move next. He had done this all before, after all.

The people sang, he and Elphaba spoke, and Glinda’s voice sang from above their heads. Elphaba harmonized with her best friend and the nearby people loudly chorused again. Elphaba took Fiyero’s outstretched hand, he situated her hat on top of her head, and they walked arm and arm through a rounded door. Everything went dark.

Sudden, thunderous applause sounded through the darkness. However, Fiyero didn’t focus on the applause, for Elphaba had just pressed her lips to his in an excited kiss.

“Great show tonight!” she enthused. “I’ll see you after curtain call.”

She dashed off and Fiyero stared after her with a goony smile as he peeled off his scarecrow hat and gloves. 

“Oy, Fiyero,” a woman wearing all black and an earpiece suddenly hissed impatiently. “Look alive, you’re up next.”

Fiyero ran back into the bright lights, his uncovered face grinning ear to ear as he bowed towards the crowd of cheering people. He moved off to the side beside Boq and Nessarose as The Wizard bowed and excitedly turned his head towards the upstage doors just before they burst open. Elphaba and Glinda ran through the doors hand and hand and Fiyero’s heart melted as Elphaba took her bow and hugged Glinda. She was spectacular, and everyone knew it. People were cheering her, _celebrating_ her! They all revered her…as they should.

Elphaba turned and stretched her hand back towards Fiyero, a beautiful smile spread across her green face. He ran forward to capture it just before the company bowed together. That moment had always been Fiyero’s favorite thing about Oz.

Not long after, he shuffled through the hallways backstage until he found his girlfriend sitting in her dressing room. She looked up and smiled at him through the reflection in her lighted mirror.

“I nearly faceplanted during _No Good Deed_ , the Act 2 dress is hell,” she laughed before turning around in her chair to offer a flirty smile. “You got pretty handsy during _As Long as You’re Mine_ tonight. How much green did you get on you?”

He smirked and held up his hands to show off the lingering smudges of green. Then, his girlfriend turned back towards the mirror, grabbed a facewipe, and began to clean her face. She swiped the wipe over her forehead and he watched as the green smeared right off with it. As she scrubbed the color clean away, he strolled towards her and affectionately watched his girlfriend degreenify herself.

All around her mirror were pictures of the two of them. He and she (in all of her green skinned and pointed hat glory) kissing or making silly faces for the camera. And of course, the pictures where she _wasn’t_ green. The one of him kissing her cheek while she held their dog, one of the two of them with her parents, another at the beach.

He looked back and noticed that she had paused her actions to smile at him thoughtfully.

“Sometimes it just hits me,” she laughed lightly. “I never thought I’d get to live my dream eight times a week, but it’s even more special that…I get to do it with you. How lucky am I that every night on stage I get to fall for the person that I fell for in real life? Sorry, I know that’s sappy but…does that make sense?”

He simply went over and pressed a big kiss to her half green cheek as his answer.

“You’re going to get more green on you,” she warned.

“Try and stop me,” he answered, continuing to kiss her repeatedly on the cheek as she laughed and laughed.

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

Upon being ejected from the Grimmerie, Fiyero’s hands immediately went to grip at his face and he was relieved to find the usual burlap and straw. Imagine that… _relieved_ to be a scarecrow. But he was. He was relieved that he was real, relieved that he wasn’t…a costume. And Elphaba, oh, Elphaba! Fiyero felt sick to his stomach as he recalled the image of his green girl cleaning the green right off of her face! He didn’t like that one bit.

The people in that life had seemed sweet; they had seemed happy…but it hadn’t felt like them. It hadn’t felt like _her_. Fiyero couldn’t shake the feeling that he had peeked behind a curtain and witnessed something that he hadn’t been meant to see. A false world that looked like Oz…but wasn’t.

Fiyero glanced behind his shoulder. Elphaba ought to be back to the campsite any time now. Where had she gone, anyway?

Feeling all _sorts_ of out of sorts, Fiyero uneasily turned the page and found the symbol of a book. Elphaba liked books…

✧✴ ✶ 📖 ✶✴ ✧

A unionist chapel in Saint Glinda’s Square of The Emerald City was the last place Fiyero expected to find an old friend from his school days.

“Elphaba! Elphaba, it’s Fiyero. Elphie—I’m Fiyero—we were at Shiz. My splendid Elphie—how are you?”

“Sir, I believe you are mistaking me for someone else.”

“Elphaba, the Thropp Third Descending, if I remember the nomenclature. I’m not mistaken at all. I’m Fiyero of the Arjikis—you know me, you remember me! From Doctor Nikidiks’ lectures in the life sciences.”

“You have confused yourself, _sir_.” 

But he had not confused himself. It was her, and it soon became _them_.

Their affair, witnessed by the cat on their sill, was set in the room above an abandoned corn exchange. It was populated by flour and piecrusts, Lurlinemas candles, burning tears, fringed scarves, blue diamonds, scented oils, and sex.

The brief intervals that Fiyero had to spend away from Elphaba to attend to business within The City and send letters to his wife Sarima (with kisses to the three children) irked him. He often reflected on how his feelings for Elphaba differed greatly from his feelings for Sarima.

She became his Fae and he became her Yero, and once, he had even been “Yero, my hero” to her.

However, their days, along with all of the pretty details of their tryst, were also filled with political discussions, theological musings, heated disputes, and danger. Elphaba spoke little of the other radicals she was in leagues with, but Fiyero knew that she had secrets.

Fiyero’s deep feelings for Elphaba translated into fear for her safety, and that fear for her safety eventually translated into his end. After following Elphaba’s steps too closely one day as she attempted to carry out her work, a threat waited for Fiyero back in their hideaway.

The Gale Force struck him down.

Affairs were a dangerous game.

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

“No!” Fiyero shouted hoarsely as he gusted out of the book.

He swore that he could still feel the strike of the Gale Forcer’s club and see the wide eyes of the cat as it witnessed, well…his death.

Fiyero didn’t want to do this anymore. He reached over to slam The Grimmerie shut but felt a rush of terror upon discovering that he _couldn’t_. He tried over and over again to close it but it continued to lay unbudgingly open before him, as if mocking him.

Fiyero frantically turned to look over his shoulder only to find himself surrounded by a suffocating, never ending darkness. No campfire, no bag hanging from the tree…no Elphaba.

“Elphaba!?” Fiyero called out desperately. His voice echoed in the void, but no response came.

Fiyero slowly turned back towards the book and, had he had any, the hairs on the back of his neck would have stood up upon noticing that The Grimmerie had turned to the next page on its own. Before him was a new rune in the distinctive, unmistakable shape…of a broken heart.

Fiyero dreaded what this page had in store for him more than he’d dreaded anything in his life. He didn’t want to see what it had to show him, but as the darkness steadily closed in and curled around the edges of the book, it seemed that he had no choice.

Fiyero took a deep breath, numbly reached forward, and placed a shaking hand atop a page. His last thought before the book dragged him in was that he hoped with all of his might that when he returned, Elphaba would be waiting for him on the other side. 

✧✴ ✶ 💔 ✶✴ ✧

“Let the green girl go!” Fiyero demanded as he heroically swung into the scene, rifle pointed at the guards who had Elphaba in their grip.

“Fiyero!”

“Let her go! Or explain to all Oz how the Wizard’s guards watched…while Glinda the Good was slain!” he declared, turning his rifle towards Glinda to gain leverage.

“Fiyero, no—”

“I said let her go!”

The guards begrudgingly released the witch and Fiyero tossed her her broom.

“Elphaba, go now,” he instructed urgently.

“No!” she replied fiercely. “Not without you.”

Fiyero turned his head to meet her determined gaze. _Not without you._

With Glinda at his mercy and five armed guards poised for attack, Fiyero had the upper hand…but not for long. He knew that one of them could make it out, _Elphaba_ could make it out, but could they both? He considered doubling down, insisting that she make a run for it. If she left, she’d be safe…but it would mean almost certain death for him. It would mean goodbye.

Then Fiyero remembered the promise he’d just made to Elphaba after years of waiting for her.

_Elphaba, we are going to be together always. You can see houses flying through the sky, can’t you see that?_

He had to risk it. Not only to save himself…but to keep his promise.

Fiyero aimed his rifle over the heads of the Wizard’s guards and fired without warning. The shock of it made them duck and scatter and, in their moment of distraction, Fiyero seized Elphaba’s hand and they _ran_ , vanishing into the nearby cornfield and sprinting for their life. If they got far enough in to throw off the guards they could take to the sky and head for Kiamo Ko. They could do it. They could both make it out!

Then Fiyero heard a gunshot.

“Keep running!” he instructed breathlessly. “It’s harder to—"

“Fiyero…” called a weak voice. Fiyero felt Elphaba’s hand tug heavily on his own and he held his breath before slowly turning around to face his worst nightmare. Elphaba looked at him expressionlessly as a dark stain from her stomach began spreading across her dress.

“No…” Fiyero whispered as Elphaba crumpled forward and grasped at his shirt. “No, no, no…”

He caught her as her knees buckled and carefully lowered her to the ground where he cradled her in his arms beside an empty scarecrow post.

“Elphaba…” he whispered, patting her cheek as her eyes started going out of focus. “You’re okay. You’re okay, Elphaba. Look at me, okay? Just look at me.”

“Fiyero…how did we end up here?” she asked through labored breaths.

“The guards had you and—and I thought that we—”

“No,” she shook her head, weakly clutching at his arm with a tremoring hand. “I mean, after everything we’ve been through, how did we end up… _here_?”

“Well, I…I almost ran you over with that cart, remember?” Fiyero murmured, his voice now thick with tears as he held her tighter in his arms. Too tight.

“Then we rescued that Lion Cub,” she added with a feeble smile, “you brought me poppies.”

“I did. And then…then I ran away with you,” Fiyero sniffed. “Because I love you, Elphaba.”

“I love you too, Fiyero,” she returned faintly. Fiyero leaned down to press his lips to hers in a desperate kiss, his tears dripping across her green cheek as he did.

“I can’t help but wonder what things would be like…” Elphaba trailed off. “If things were…”

“If things were what?” Fiyero whispered hoarsely. “No, no, hey Elphaba—look at me. You’re okay. Tell me, if things were what? Answer me, sweet Elphaba. _Elphaba_ …Elphaba?”

✧✴ ✶ ✧ ✶✴ ✧

“Elphaba? Elphaba… _Elphaba_!”

With a great jerk, Fiyero’s eyes shot open and he found himself flailing on the ground. He scrambled to his wobbily legs and looked around wildly. Where was the book? Where was The Grimmerie?!

“Fiyero!?” a confused voice called from a short distance away.

That voice. Her voice. She was back, _she was alive!_ Without thinking, Fiyero propelled himself towards the campsite, indiscriminately hurtling towards the voice as if his life depended on it. With a jarring _oomph_ —he ran head on into a soft yet solid frame and clumsily fell backwards onto the dirt.

When he opened his eyes, Elphaba, _his_ Elphaba, was kneeling over him with a bewildered look.

“Fiyero, have you lost your mind?! You were running straight towards the fire! I don’t even want to _think_ about what could have happened!” Elphaba scolded him.

“I had to find you,” Fiyero gasped, sitting up and staring at her as if she were the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. After all, she was.

“Well, you found me,” she said in an ironic tone.

“I did. Elphaba—I found you. I found you so many times. It didn’t matter how old we were, where we lived, how we met—I _found_ you, Elphaba. We found each other!”

“Can a scarecrow sustain a brain injury?” she asked, curiously peering at the back of his head to see if all of his straw was intact.

“No, you don’t understand! The Grimmerie showed me—”

“Fiyero, I left The Grimmerie with Glinda back in Oz. Remember?” she reminded him. “You must have had quite the dream…”

“Dream?” he frowned. “But I…”

Fiyero looked back to the patch of ground where he had regained consciousness. It had been exactly where he’d laid down to rest his mind earlier in the evening. He glanced back towards the campfire and noticed Elphaba’s bag hanging on the tree. No Grimmerie.

Elphaba hadn’t ever left their campsite. It had all been in his head. A vision, of sorts.

A dream.

“I guess it was…” he trailed off, giving his head a quick shake. Elphaba offered him a half-hearted smile before tentatively reaching for his hand.

“Listen, about what you said earlier…I want you to know that it’s okay. It’s not like I’ve never wondered, you know? Wondered if we’d be together if even _one_ thing had been different—"

“No, Elphaba, listen to me,” Fiyero urged insistently. He didn’t care if it had been a dream. It had been real to him. “Everything was different— _everything_ —and it didn’t matter! Oz, Elphaba, I wish you could have seen what I saw. I saw _us._ I saw us over and over and over again. I saw us in a dozen scenarios, a dozen lives, a dozen worlds! And Elphaba? We chose each other every time. We fell in love _every time_.”

“Fiyero…” Elphaba murmured, looking faintly confused but moved by his words.

“I love you, Elphaba. I love _you_ , and I don’t want any other version of you. I don’t need us to rule a country, or be married with kids, or even ever have sex again—”

“Fi _yero_!” Elphaba blushed. Fiyero moved to gently take Elphaba’s face in his hands and she softened as their eyes met.

“I just need you,” Fiyero vowed softly. “I don’t care if we’re on the run for the rest of our lives, I don’t care if we trudge through desert after desert…and I don’t care if I’m ever human again. We’re alive, we have each other, and that’s enough for me. As long as you’re mine…it’s enough for me. I’ll leave the other universes to work themselves out, this is _our_ story, and I promise that I won’t take it for granted again.”

Elphaba stared at him with a stunned expression, awed and overwhelmed by his romantic declarations.

“I love you too,” was all the response she managed.

It was all that was needed.

That night, after tenderly mending his torn sleeve, Elphaba used Fiyero’s straw-filled chest as her pillow and they cuddled up together at a safe distance from the fire. They laughed quietly, exchanged soft words of love and forgiveness, and reminisced on some of their sweetest memories. 

Memories like when Fiyero had caught Elphaba practicing her hair toss at Shiz…and when she’d first grabbed his hand. Their night in the forest and their liberating escape from Oz. The silly songs and games they’d made up in the desert to pass the time—like when Fiyero saw how many pieces of straw he could stick into Elphaba’s hair before she noticed…

And the nights like this. 

Elphaba eventually dozed off in Fiyero’s soft embrace and, as he admired her sleeping face, all seemed right with the universe once more. Fiyero no longer wished for anything about their lives to be different, not _one_ thing, for he knew that out of all of the worlds he had seen that day…he was living in the best one of all.

**Author's Note:**

> ✧A/N: Thank you for reading! Let me know in the comment section which story was your favorite and if there are any you'd like to see any of the mini-stories fully written.
> 
> ✧Bonus disclaimer: The Wicked musical actors in this story are 100% fictional and not meant to depict any real actors or actresses that have portrayed the roles.


End file.
